At present, large amounts of information in the form of digital data are transmitted worldwide around the clock between and among computers and other data telecommunications equipment. Much of the data is transmitted over optical infrastructures, including optical fibers operated by companies known as telecommunications or data communication “carriers”. It is the local, regional, national and international interconnection of these carriers that form and facilitate global telecommunications networks such as the Internet.
Generally, however, the presently deployed optical networks of regional and national carriers, in terrestrial and underwater environments, provide transmit and receive connectivity to such wide area networks only at relatively large cities and certain other specific locations. Generally, such optical networks do not provide direct customer access except at those specific locations. Since customers can only access the wide area optical network at certain hub locations such as the large cities, the number of customers who can gain direct access to the network at such hub locations is necessarily limited.
Thus, there is a need for a solution that provides direct customer access to such wide area networks at more locations along the optical fibers without significantly impacting the transmission of data over large distances.